I received my Green Card last week and this is a good time to recall the whole process. I came to the United States in 2011. I was born in Poland. If someone told me a few years ago that I would be living in the United States, I would not believe them.

Once an extension of stay is denied, a foreign national must make plans to immediately depart the United States. The Customs and Border Protection website offers guidance regarding how long a person can remain in the U.S. following the denial of the extension.

Beginning in May 2013, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped issuing paper I-94 cards and instead began requiring that the foreign national access the I-94 information on the CBP website. For the past six months, both attorneys and foreign nationals have been working diligently to try to understand the new electronic I-94 system.

This webinar will cover the requirements for R-1 nonimmigrant status, the process for filing an I-129 petition with USCIS and the process for obtaining an R-1 visa at a U.S. consulate abroad. Issues to be discussed include: maintaining and extending status, compensation of the R-1 beneficiary, travel issues and USCIS site visits. The webinar will be presented by Anne Marie Gibbons, Director, Center for Religious Immigration and Protection, CLINIC; Miguel Naranjo, Managing Attorney, Center for Religious Immigration and Protection, CLINIC; and Kristina Karpinski, Training and Legal Support Attorney, CLINIC.

This webinar will train advocates on the essential elements of Know Your Rights presentations to educate immigrant communities about potential enforcement actions. In addition, it will provide practical steps that communities can take before, during and after an enforcement action. The panelists will focus on how to best present information so that immigrant communities can be prepared to effectively respond to enforcement actions resulting in detention or potential removal. The webinar will also provide attendees with resources that are appropriate for distribution during Know Your Rights presentations. Panelists include Paromita Shah, Associate Director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and Manisha Vaze, an organizer for Families for Freedom. IAN Director Natalie Sullivan will serve as the moderator. This webinar is made possible through the generous support of the Four Freedoms Fund.

Families for Freedom is a New York-based multi-ethnic defense network by and for immigrants facing and fighting deportation. For more information, visit http://www.familiesforfreedom.org/. The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild is a national non-profit that provides legal and technical support to immigrant communities, legal practitioners, and all advocates seeking to advance the rights of noncitizens. For more information, visit http://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/. The Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) is a collaborative project of the ABA Commission on Immigration, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, American Immigration Council, American Immigration Lawyers Association, ASISTA, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Pro Bono Net, and The Advocates for Human Rights. For more information about IAN, visit www.immigrationadvocates.org.

U Nonimmigrant Status for victims of crime offers a pathway to lawful permanent residence. The presenters will discuss the eligibility requirements, special issues related to derivative family members and the process of applying for adjustment of status as a U nonimmigrant. Sarah Bronstein and Debbie Smith, Training and Legal Support Attorneys with CLINIC, and Sarah Flagel, BIA Accredited Representative at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago will present this webinar.

Please join us for a webinar on "Prosecutorial Discretion: What it Is and How and When to Use It" on August 16, 2011. This webinar will examine the June 17, 2011 Morton Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion, including what prosecutorial discretion may provide, how to evaluate circumstances in which it may be appropriate, and what recent ICE practice is in light of the Memo. The trainers for this webinar are Mary Kenney, Senior Attorney at the American Immigration Counsel (AIC), and author of the practice admivsory, "Prosecutorial Discretion: How to Advocate for your Client", and Debbie Smith, Attorney at Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information on joining the webinar.

Our Mission

Embracing the Gospel value of welcoming the stranger, CLINIC promotes the dignity and protects the rights of immigrants in partnership with a dedicated network of Catholic and community legal immigration programs.